Cres, Italian Cherso , island in the Kvarner group, northwest Croatia, in the Adriatic Sea, off the east coast of Istria. With an area of 156 sq mi square miles (404 sq square km), it reaches a maximum altitude elevation of 2,150 ft feet (650 mmetres) at Gorice. In the south, a canal—first made in Roman times, revived in the 16th century—separates Cres from the island of Lošinj (Italian Lussino), about 29 sq mi square miles (75 sq square km) in area; a road bridge spans the channel. Both islands are structurally part of the limestone plateau of Istria. Lake Vrana, a freshwater lake in the centre of Cres, supplies both Cres and Lošinj. Since the decline of viticulture on Cres, fishing and fruit growing provide a livelihood. A small but valuable tourist industry has recovered from the inactivity of 1921–47, when both islands were Italian. Cres has Roman ruins, a Renaissance clock tower, city loggia, and a 15th–16th-century church.

Following the fall of Rome, Cres became a part of the Byzantine Empire until 998 and then came in turn under the rule of the Croatian kingdom, Venice, Hungary-Croatia, and, from 1409 to 1797, Venice again. Subsequent rulers were Austria, France, Austria again (1814–1921), Italy (1920–47), Yugoslavia (1947–92), and independent Croatia.Pop. (1981 prelim.) Cres and Lošinj, 10,361.